Iraq: What Went Wrong?
Talk delivered July 22, 2004 to Roslindale Neighbors for Peace and
Justice
by Stephen Soldz
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After invading Iraq , the leader of the conquering army proclaimed:
"Our armies do not come in your cities and lands as conquerors or
enemies, but as liberators ... I am commanded to invite you to
participate in the management of your own civil affairs."
Was this George Bush, Tony Blair, Paul Bremer, or Lt. Gen. Ricardo
Sanchez? No, it was conquering British General Stanley Maude, in
1917.1,2
This was after Iraq was conquered, during the First World War.
Soon, thereafter, their hopes for independence betrayed, the Iraqis
launched a rebellion. The British used their superior weaponry to
suppress it, including the new poison gas, recommended by T. E.
Lawrence, Lawrence of Arabia.3 Winston Churchill commented:
"I do not understand this squeamishness about the use of gas... I am
strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilised tribes."3
Approximately 450 British troops died while suppressing the rebellion.
While then, as now, no one counted Iraqi deaths, estimates range from
8,000 to 10,000.1
Forty-seven year old Winston Churchill was appointed to come up with a
solution. A ruler was found. He wasn't Iraqi, but from Saudi Arabia ,
but that didn't matter. Prince Faisal became a British-appointed king. A
regime was set up with the minority Sunni religious group dominant and
the majority ****ites kept largely powerless.
After a 40 years, the British lost control. But the Americans retained
influence, helping the Ba'ath party attain -- including young Saddam
Hussein -- attain power and giving them lists of thousands of Iraqis,
communists and others, to be assassinated.4
We Americans may choose to ignore history, but Iraqis absorb these facts
with their mother's milk.
Fast forward. The US and Britain invade Iraq based on trumped up
charges, as we now are all aware, but at the time, only those who read
independent re****ting knew.
Looting sweeps the country. The US does nothing to stop it. US Defense
Secretary Rumsfeld likens the chaotic situation in Iraq to
post-revolutionary America.5 Rumors and eyewitness accounts abound that
at least some US troops encouraged looters.6, 7 Much of the Iraqi
infrastructure is destroyed. Most government buildings are destroyed,
with the exception of the Planning Ministry (with its intelligence
files) and the Oil Ministry, which the US saw fit to protect.8, 9
While Americans are warily welcomed in parts of postwar Iraq , in
others, they are not viewed so positively. April 28, 2003 . 15 people
are shot and killed by American troops in Falluja, who claimed they were
fired upon. A re****ter from the British paper the Independent examines
the building the US troops were in and find no signs of bullet holes
that could have come from the crowd outside.10 The US press ignores
this. A few days later, more Fallujans are shot by US troops.11 Sheik
Talid Alesawi, a Sunni cleric says: "We understood freedom by making
demonstrations. But the shooting that greeted us was not freedom. Are
there two types of freedom, one for you and one for us?"11
The Iraqi summer arrives. Temperatures often get to 120F, sometimes 140.
Much of the country has electricity for only a few hours a day, so
Iraqis get little relief from air conditioning.12 Many take to the
traditional method of sleeping on the roof.13 Sometimes they get killed
by US troops who can't distinguish 12-year old children from
insurgents.14
US companies get billions of dollars in reconstruction contracts, but
the electricity doesn't flow. It never consistently gets up to prewar
levels, which were already low, due to over a decade of US-inspired UN
sanctions.15 In oil rich Iraq, lines for gasoline stretch miles and take
many hours to navigate.
Crime sweeps Iraq . Murders, kidnapping abound. The Baghdad morgue fills
up with hundreds of corpses of murdered Iraqis each week. The occupation
authorities resolutely respond, by banning re****ters from entering
hospitals or mortuaries without permission, which they refuse to
give.16, 17 No one knows how many Iraqis have died or are dying. British
re****ter Robert Fisk estimates nearly a 1,000 people a week are dying
from crime, American errors, the settling of feuds, and other reasons.18
In September, 2003, Fisk estimates the death toll under occupation as at
least 10,000, but nobody knows for sure.18 The Ministry of Health starts
to count civilians killed during the war, but they are ordered by their
so-called Iraqi Governing Council and the US occupation authorities to
stop counting.19
Many Iraqis are afraid to leave their homes. Women, in particular, no
longer feel safe to leave their homes unaccompanied.20 Many teen-age
girls spend most of the next year seldom leaving home. [Imagine your
daughters forced to stay home for a year. And Iraqi houses are, of
course, smaller than most American ones.]
Iraq is a very family-oriented society. People typically travel to visit
their varied family members. But, in liberated Iraq , travel on a
highway is an extremely dangerous activity. Criminals, referred to as
Ali Babas, roam the highways. Over 150,000 American and other foreign
troops do little to make the roads safe. In fact, the resistance is
setting IED -- Improvised Explosive Devices -- along the roads, to bomb
American tanks and armed personnel carriers. The Americans take to
moving in convoys, often slow-moving. Iraqi drivers who try and pass
these convoys frequently find themselves shot, or even crushed, by
confused, terrified, American troops.21 Others die in other "accidental"
US shootings.22-25
The new US rulers of Iraq live in a special area, called the Green Zone,
centered on one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces. Staff and
consultants are largely chosen for their political affiliations and have
little expertise in Iraq history or culture.26, 27 As the Wa****ngton
Post re****ted: "[M]ost CPA hiring was done by the White House and
Pentagon personnel offices, with posts going to people with connections
to the Bush administration or the Republican Party. The job of
reorganizing Baghdad 's stock exchange, which has not reopened, was
given in September to a 24-year-old who had sought a job at the White
House."15 There are few Arabic speakers. Soon, it is too dangerous for
most Americans to venture outside the Green Zone. Why would they want
to, anyway? It has US stores and fast food joints selling chicken
nuggets and ribs.28 In a Muslim country, where many view drinking as a
sin, the Green Zone has bars for each agency involved in the
occupation.29 The CIA has its own bar, so its agents aren't
inconvenienced by leaving the Green Zone for Iraq. As many Iraqis turn
to Islam for comfort and sup****t in tough times, American women in the
Green Zone jog in their shorts and s****ts bras.30 If the occupiers want
a taste of local color, they can always go to the market and buy Middle
Eastern knives and swords.28 An American officer says of the occupation
officials "Our soldiers call them the League of Frightened Gentlemen."31
And those US troops, many of whom had never been to another US state,
are now in a foreign country. They can't speak the language. The army
had only about 70 Arabic translators in total32 and at most 1,300 active
duty soldiers could speak any Arabic.33 Unlike when the US army went
into Germany , Japan , or Korea , when they invaded Iraq , they did NOT
create any crash course to train Arabic translators. Over and over
again, confused messages at checkpoints lead to Iraqi deaths.23, 34, 35
US officials disband the Iraqi army, an army that largely didn't fight
the American invaders, throwing hundreds of thousands of Iraqis out of
work with the stroke of a pen.36 In a country with a state-dominated
economy, tens of thousands of members of the ruling party are forbidden
from working for the state, becoming essentially unemployable.37
A bunch of exiles, many out of the country for 30 years, are flown in
and appointed to a so-called Iraqi Governing Council, but are given no
power. Among them is Ahmed Chalabi, a convicted felon in Jordan , whom
the US Pentagon expected would become ruler of Iraq . His private
militia is flown in by US planes.38 He assumes, without US objection,
personal control of files on hundreds of thousands of former Ba'athists,
allowing him to settle old scores39 and gain influence through using
them for blackmail.40 Chalabi's relatives are appointed to many
positions in the new society. They start businesses, making money off
reconstruction efforts. His nephew is appointed to be in charge of
prosecuting deposed President Saddam Hussein. Iraqis start routinely
referring to the "Governing Council' as the "Puppet Council". Many
members of this Council spend most of their time traveling out of the
country and never bring their families back to Iraq . US administrator
Paul Bremer complains that at least half of them are out of the country
at any given time and often only four or five show up for meetings.41
When the Council was disbanded in June, 2004, many members immediately
flew back into exile, having no further interest in the "new Iraq ."
The Iraqi woman blogger, Riverbend, described the Council thus42:
"Of course they're outside of the country -- many of them don't have
ties in it. They have to visit their families and businesses in Europe
and North America . For some of them, it sometimes seems like the
'Governing Council' is something of an interesting hobby -- a nice
little diversion in the monthly routine: golf on Saturdays, a movie with
the family in London on Fridays, a massage at the spa on Tuesdays, and,
oh yes -- nation-building for 5 minutes with Bremer on the Xth of each
month.
"People here never see them. Most live in guarded compounds and one
never knows what country they are currently in. For example, Chalabi is
presently missing. I haven't seen him on the news for... I don't know
how long. If anyone has seen him, please send an email -- I'm dying to
know what he's up to.
"I can imagine Bremer preparing for a meeting with the pioneers of Iraqi
democracy, the pillars of liberty ... the Iraqi Puppet Council. He
strides in with his chic suit, flowing hair and polished shoes (the
yellow nation-building boots are only for press conferences and photo
shoots in Iraqi provinces). He is all anticipation and eagerness: today
will be the day. *This* meeting will be the productive meeting which
will make headlines.
"He strides into the lavish room, Italian heels clicking on the marble
floor -- there will be 25 faces today. Twenty-five pairs of adoring eyes
will follow him around the room. Twenty-five pairs of eager ears will
strain to hear his words of wisdom. Twenty-five faces will light up
with... but where are the 25? He stops in the middle of the room, heart
sinking, ire rising in leaps and bounds. Why are there only 5 unsure
faces? Did he have the schedule wrong? Was this the wrong conference
room?!
"And Bremer roars and rages -- where are the Puppets? Where are the
marionettes?! How dare they miss yet another meeting! But they all have
their reasons, Mr. Bremer: Talbani is suffering from indigestion after
an ample meal last night; Iyad Allawi is scheduled for a pedicure in
Switzerland this afternoon; Al-Hakim is jetting around making covert
threats to the Gulf countries, and Chalabi says he's not attending
meetings anymore, he's left the country and will be back when it's time
for the elections..."
The resistance picks up steam. Surprisingly, the birthplace of
civilization, the home of Babylon and Nineveh, is not thrilled about
being occupied by foreign troops, from another continent, of a different
religion, who do not speak their language, who fail to improve life for
Iraqis, who seem especially interested in Iraq's oil and strategic
im****tance. The Americans fight back, setting up huge concrete walls
around the former dictator's palaces, where they set up camp. Houses are
raided in the middle of the night by US troops who can only yell a few
words. Women and children are handcuffed and held at gunpoint. Thousands
of people, mostly, but not all, men, are taken away, many to the former
dictator's Abu Ghraib prison and torture center. Rumors spread that the
Americans are themselves torturing prisoners, at Abu Ghraib and
elsewhere. Women prisoners smuggle out a letter asking the resistance to
bomb the prison and kill them all because of the shame they feel after
being raped.43 Detained male children are sodomized and this treatment
is videotaped.44-46
Meanwhile, thousands of Iraqi families who's members were arrested or
just disappeared, search for their loved ones, usually in vain. The
United States , with all its high tech supercomputers, doesn't bother to
keep useable, accessible records of those they detain.47, 48 What few
lists do exist are in English, not Arabic and are full of errors. When
people are released, days, weeks, or months after being detained, in
many cases after never having even been questioned,48 they are
frequently just dumped on the streets outside the prison, in some cases
in their underwear. American intelligence officials tell the
International Committee of the Red Cross that 70%-90% of detainees are
completely innocent.49
The occupying force talks of bringing democracy to Iraq . They describe
how this democracy will become a beacon for the Middle East . Yet, a
Governing Council primarily of exiles with few roots in the country is
appointed by the occupiers. Local elections are, in many cases,
scheduled, then cancelled.50, 51 Mayors and governors, often former
Iraqi military officers, are appointed. In some cases these appointees
are from different parts of the country and are known to be corrupt
and/or brutal.
In the fall of 2003, the Iraqi Ministry of Planning develops a proposal
to create a registry of voters within 10 months.52 The US authorities
veto the idea and, re****tedly, never even tell the "Governing Council"
of the proposal. A UN team says elections could be organized within 6
months.52 Later, when revered ****a religious leader Ali Sistani calls
for elections, the US rulers say these are impossible because there is
no electoral roll. When, after 15 months of direct rule, the US cedes
nominal sovereignty to a new Iraqi government, no progress has been made
toward creating an electoral role. Not even a plan has been formulated.
The occupation authority, called the Coalition Provisional Authority
(CPA) despite the fact that the US rulers even ignore the opinions of
their British "Coalition partners," says its only purpose is to create a
free Iraq and return sovereignty. They deny plans for any permanent
occupation, though US generals keep on upping the length of time US
troops will "have to stay" in Iraq. Meanwhile, 4, or is it 14, permanent
military bases are being constructed.53, 54 Very few articles have
occurred in the mainstream US press on the construction of these
permanent bases. To replace a prewar army of perhaps 400,000, which
fought a many years war with neighboring Iran , the US proposes to
create, over a number of years, a new Iraqi army of 35,000. This new
army will have no tanks, no heavy artillery55, no air force to defend a
country that is surrounded by countries -- Iraq , Turkey , Kuwait ,
Saudi Arabia -- with whom there has either been recent conflict or who
have territorial or other conflicts with Iraq . Iraqis wonder how a
lightly armed army of 35,000 is supposed to defend their country, were
the Americans ever to leave. The first US ruler of Iraq , Jay Garner,
compares the US presence in Iraq to the century-long US presence in the
Philippines :
"Noting how establi****ng U.S. naval bases in the Philippines in the
early 1900s allowed the United States to maintain a 'great presence in
the Pacific.' Garner said. 'To me that's what Iraq is for the next few
decades. We ought to have something there ... that gives us great
presence in the Middle East . I think that's going to be necessary.'"56
While unemployment figures are hard to come by, estimates put Iraqi
unemployment at between 40% and 60%, with a recent survey putting it at
70%.57 At the time of the occupation, most large businesses were
state-owned. The US "Administrator" of Iraq makes a priority of
privatizing the economy, removing tariffs and implementing a flat tax
that the Republican ideologues can't get the US to accept:
"'The highest individual and cor****ate income tax rates for 2004 and
subsequent years shall not exceed 15 percent.' Paul Bremer wrote in
Coalition Provisional Authority Order Number 37, October, 2003."58
And, as he was getting ready to depart Iraq , in June, 2004, Bremer told
the Wa****ngton Post that:
"[a]mong his biggest accomplishments ... were the lowering of Iraq 's
tax rate, the liberalization of foreign-investment laws and the
reduction of im****t duties."15
As a result of these measures, Iraq is flooded with cheap consumer goods
from abroad, hurting local industry.
April, 2004. Four American "contractors" [really mercenaries] are
brutally killed in Falluja. The US decides to exact retribution and
destroy resistance in the town. They lay siege, set up snipers who claim
to only target rebels,59 but actually shoot at anything that moves.60
British law student Jo Wilding, who helped bring a circus to Iraq to
brighten Iraqi children's lives decided to go into a Falluja under
siege:
"I'll spare you the whole decision making process, the questions we all
asked ourselves and each other, and you can spare me the accusations of
madness, but what it came down to was this: if I don't do it, who
will?..."
She describes what she sees:
"Snipers are causing not just carnage but also the paralysis of the
ambulance and evacuation services. The biggest hospital after the main
one was bombed is in US territory and cut off from the clinic by
snipers. The ambulance has been repaired four times after bullet damage.
Bodies are lying in the streets because no one can go to collect them
without being shot."
She gets personal experience:
"We stop, turn off the siren, keep the blue light fla****ng, wait, eyes
on the silhouettes of men in US marine uniforms on the corners of the
buildings. Several shots come. We duck, get as low as possible and I can
see tiny red lights whipping past the window, past my head. Some, it's
hard to tell, are hitting the ambulance. I start singing. What else do
you do when someone's shooting at you? A tyre bursts with an enormous
noise and a jerk of the vehicle.
She witnesses the effects of the humane fighting touted by the American
military:
"I am outraged. We are trying to get to a woman who is giving birth
without any medical attention, without electricity, in a city under
siege, in a clearly marked ambulance, and you are shooting at us. How
dare you?...
"We take off the blue gowns as the sky starts exploding somewhere beyond
the building opposite. Minutes later a car roars up to the clinic. I can
hear him screaming before I can see that there is no skin left on his
body. He is burnt from head to foot. For sure there is nothing they can
do. He will die of dehydration within a few days.
"Another man is pulled from the car onto a stretcher. Cluster bombs,
they say, although it is not clear whether they mean one or both of
them. We set off walking to Mr Yasser's house, waiting at each corner
for someone to check the street before we cross. A ball of fire falls
from a plane, splits into smaller balls of bright white lights. I think
they are cluster bombs, because cluster bombs are in the front of my
mind, but they vanish, just magnesium flares, incredibly bright and
short-lived, giving a flash picture of the town from above."60
The US arrests a close aide of Muqtada al-Sadr, a ****a leader who is
extremely popular among the millions of poor ****a living in the Baghdad
slum known as Sadr City in honor of his father, martyred by Saddam
Hussein. US authorities announce they will get him, living or dead.
Their Iraq agents in the Ministry of Justice print posters saying that
Sadr was killed while resisting arrest and post some on walls in Sadr
City,61 but then fail to capture him as he launches an insurrection and
proclaims solidarity with the Falluja rebels. Thousands of Iraqis die in
the next weeks, but the strongest power in the history of the world
fails to suppress either the Falluja or al-Sadr insurrections, though US
troops kill over 700 civilians in Falluja, who are buried in s****ts
fields. US military leaders brag of killing over 1,000 of al-Sadr's
militia members, mostly poor ****a youth from Baghdad slums.62, 63
In a poll of Iraqis in six cities conducted for the US/CPA in May
2004,64 67% of Iraqis say they Strongly Sup****t (32%) or Somewhat
Sup****t (35%) al-Sadr, making him the second most sup****ted person in
Iraq, only behind the 70% sup****t expressed for Ali Sistani. Iyad
Allawi, the man the US imposed as the Prime Minister of the "sovereign"
Iraqi government was Sup****ted by 23% (5% Strongly Sup****t) in that
poll, with 61% of those surveyed saying they Somewhat (21%) or Strongly
(40%) Opposed him. The man who would soon be appointed President was so
revered he wasn't even listed among the 14 top figures included in the
survey.
In that same poll 11% expressed a Fair Amount or a Great Deal (2%) of
confidence in the US Coalition Provisional Authority, with 85% having
Not Much (11%) or None Confidence (78%) in the institution that had
ruled them for over a year. Only 28% expressed a Fair Amount or a Great
Deal of Confidence in the US-chosen Governing Council, with 66% having
Not Much or None (55%). 81% answered No Confidence in the Coalition
Forces that were fighting the insurgency, killing people at roadblocks,
invading homes in the middle of the night, and holding thousands of
Iraqis prisoners in Abu Ghraib and other hell holes.
Then, on June 28, 2004, in a secret ceremony, the CPA, with its 11%
confidence, handed "sovereignty" to the new government it had
hand-picked, largely from the Governing Council with its 28% confidence,
thus undermining a months-long process by UN official Lakhdar Brahimi,
leading Brahimi to say of US Administrator Paul Bremer: ""Bremer is the
dictator of Iraq." he said. "He has the money. He has the signature."65
Of course, "sovereignty" doesn't mean control. US troops are free to act
as they please, without any effective control by Iraqi authorities. In
one of his last acts, Paul Bremer granted them total immunity for any
actions, including torturing prisoners, they commit in the "sovereign"
Iraq . He also granted immunity to private contractors while they are
working in Iraq.66, 67
And the new government doesn't control the economy, regulate the media,
or have many of the other powers sovereign governments usually have.
As the Wall Street Journal re****ted:
"As Wa****ngton prepares to hand over power, U.S. administrator L. Paul
Bremer and other officials are quietly building institutions that will
give the U.S. powerful levers for influencing nearly every im****tant
decision the interim government will make. In a series of edicts issued
earlier this spring, Mr. Bremer's Coalition Provisional Authority
created new commissions that effectively take away virtually all of the
powers once held by several ministries. The CPA also ... put in place a
pair of watchdog institutions that will serve as checks on individual
ministries and allow for continued U.S. oversight. Meanwhile, the CPA
reiterated that coalition advisers will remain in virtually all
remaining ministries after the handover....
"The authority to license Iraq 's television stations, sanction
newspapers and regulate cell phone companies was recently transferred to
a commission whose members were selected by Wa****ngton . The
commissioners' five-year terms stretch far beyond the planned 18-month
tenure of the interim Iraqi government that will assume sovereignty on
June 30."68
Or as the New York Times summed up the matter:
"Top aides to Mr. Bremer have said in recent days that the American
troops will act as the most im****tant guarantor of American influence.
In addition, they said, the $18.4 billion voted for Iraqi reconstruction
last fall by the United States Congress -- including more than $2
billion for the new Iraqi forces -- will give the Americans a decisive
voice."69
And who is this new Iraqi government that the US imposed? The man with
the power, or whatever power Iraqis are to be allowed, is Iyad Allawi, a
man of whom the BBC said:
"he has the advantage ... of being equally mistrusted by everyone in
Iraq 's multifarious population."70
He boasts of having taken money from over a dozen intelligence agencies,
including the CIA and the British MI6. He helped Saddam Hussein get into
power, and acted as a spy on anti-Saddam Iraqi exiles in Europe ; there
are re****ts that he killed some of these dissidents. After a break with
Saddam, he started working for the CIA, among others. He is evidently a
terrorist, using a strict definition of this much-misused term. The New
York Times re****ted that the CIA got him to conduct a bombing campaign
in Iraq in the 1990's.71 About this campaign the article comments:
"One former Central Intelligence Agency officer who was based in the
region, Robert Baer, recalled that a bombing during that period 'blew up
a school bus; schoolchildren were killed.' Mr. Baer, a critic of the
Iraq war, said he did not recall which resistance group might have set
off that bomb."
As I was preparing this talk last week, the July 17 Sydney Morning
Herald of Australia re****ted further evidence of what type of man the US
forced upon Iraq . The article is entitled: "Allawi shot prisoners in
cold blood: witnesses."72 A few excerpts:
"Iyad Allawi, the new Prime Minister of Iraq, pulled a pistol and
executed as many as six suspected insurgents at a Baghdad police
station, just days before Wa****ngton handed control of the country to
his interim government, according to two people who allege they
witnessed the killings.
"They say the prisoners -- handcuffed and blindfolded -- were lined up
against a wall in a courtyard adjacent to the maximum-security cell
block in which they were held at the Al-Amariyah security centre, in the
city's south-western suburbs....
"But the informants told the Herald that Dr Allawi shot each young man
in the head as about a dozen Iraqi policemen and four Americans from the
Prime Minister's personal security team watched in stunned silence.
" Iraq 's Interior Minister, Falah al-Naqib, is said to have looked on
and congratulated him when the job was done. Mr al-Naqib's office has
issued a verbal denial....
"The prisoners were against the wall and we were standing in the
courtyard when the Interior Minister said that he would like to kill
them all on the spot. Allawi said that they deserved worse than death -
but then he pulled the pistol from his belt and started shooting
them....
"There is much debate and rumour in Baghdad about the Prime Minister's
capacity for brutality, but this is the first time eyewitness accounts
have been obtained....
"Neither witness could give a specific date for the killings. But their
accounts narrowed the time frame to on or around the third weekend in
June -- about a week before the rushed handover of power in Iraq and
more than three weeks after Dr Allawi was named as the interim Prime
Minister....
"One witness justified the shootings as an unintended act of mercy:
'They were happy to die because they had already been beaten by the
police for two to eight hours a day to make them talk.'...
"The Herald has established that as many as 30 people, including the
victims. May have been in the courtyard. One of the witnesses said there
were five or six civilian-clad American security men in a convoy of five
or six late model four-wheel-drive vehicles that was shepherding Dr
Allawi's entourage on the day. The US military and Dr Allawi's office
refused to respond to questions about the composition of his security
team. It is understood that the core of his protection unit is drawn
from the US Special Forces units (emphasis added)....
"The two witnesses were independently and separately found by the
Herald. Neither approached the newspaper. They were interviewed on
different days in a private home in Baghdad , without being told the
other had spoken. A condition of the co-operation of each man was that
no personal information would be published.... The witnesses were not
paid for the interviews."
To conclude, imagine yourself an Iraqi. You've suffered terribly under a
ruthless dictator. The Americans invade your country under false
pretenses. They promise democracy but don't organize elections. They
appoint exiles to rule you, exiles who spend most of their time out of
the country and the rest in a few highly protected areas. The occupiers
break into your homes in the middle of the night and arrest your men,
who then disappear, with no accountability. They shoot Iraqis at
roadblocks and from convoys. They declare war on the second most popular
man in the country, announcing his death in advance. They open the
economy to US cor****ations and give them sweetheart contracts, ignoring
local business. Then they write hundreds of laws and establish
commissions limiting any future government. They build permanent
military bases on your soil. Then they turn your country over to a
former associate of Saddam Hussein, also a former CIA agent, known for
his ruthless brutality. Imagine that was your country. What would you
do?
References
1. J. Kifner. " Britain Tried First. Iraq Was No Picnic Then." New
York Times. July 20, 2003 .
2. S. Maude. "The Proclamation of Baghdad ." Harpers Magazine [Web
posting]. Dec. 4, 2003 .
3. D. Blair. "Meddling in Mesopotamia was always risky."
Telegraph. March 18, 2003 .
4. R. Sale. "Saddam key in early CIA plot." United Press
International. April 10, 2003 .
5. M. B. Norton. "The Founders and the Fedayeen." New York Times.
July 19, 2003 .
6. O. Rothenborg. " USA encouraged ransacking." Dagens Nyheter.
April 11, 2003 .
7. W. Sommerfeld. "Plundering of Museums in Baghdad. "
Süddeutschen Zeitung. May 8, 2003 .
8. A. Gumbel and D. Keys. "US Blamed for Failure to Stop Sacking
of Museum." Independent. April 14, 2003 .
9. R. Fisk. "Americans defend two untouchable ministries from the
hordes of looters." Independent. April 14, 2003 .
10. P. Reeves. "At least 10 dead as US soldiers fire on school
protest." Independent. April 30, 2003 .
11. S. Wilson . " U.S. Forces Kill Two During Iraqi Demonstration."
Wa****ngton Post. April 30, 2003 .
12. P. Cockburn. "Powerless Iraqis rail against ignorant,
air-conditioned US occupation force." Independent. June 22, 2003 .
13. Riverbend. "The Roof...." Baghdad Burning [blog]. June 1, 2004 .
14. S. Peterson. "For US troops in Iraq , safety vs. diplomacy."
Christian Science Monitor. June 30, 2003 .
15. R. Chandrasekaran. "Mistakes Loom Large as Handover Nears:
Missed Op****tunities Turned High Ideals to Harsh Realities." Wa****ngton
Post. June 20, 2004 .
16. FAIR. "White House Whining on Iraq Coverage." Fairness &
Accuracy In Re****ting. Oct. 30, 2003 .
17. R. Fisk. "Don't Say We Were Not Warned About This Chaos."
Independent. Sept. 5, 2003 .
18. R. Fisk. "Secret slaughter by night, lies and blind eyes by
day." Independent. Sept. 14, 2003 .
19. N. Price. " Iraq 's Health Ministry ordered to stop counting
civilian dead from war." Associated Press. Dec. 10, 2003 .
20. M-L. Colson. "Iraqi women have lost the post-war: Rapes,
sequestrations, and a return to the veil develop." La Liberation. Sept.
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21. Hd. Quetteville. "US soldier 'killed taxi occupants for passing
convoy'." Telegraph. Jan. 10, 2004 .
22. S. Faramarzi. "Jittery U.S. Soldiers Kill 6 Iraqis." Associated
Press. Aug. 10, 2003 .
23. J. Huggler. "Family shot dead by panicking US troops."
Independent. Aug. 10, 2003 .
24. P. Beaumont. "Farah tried to plead with the US troops but she
was killed anyway." Guardian. Sept. 7, 2003 .
25. M. Georgy. "Grisly death enrages town in Iraq. " Reuters. July
7, 2003 .
26. AFP. "Bush appoints sup****ter to run Iraqi cor****ate sector."
AFP. Aug. 8, 2003 .
27. B. Wootliff. "Bush pals hired to rewrite Iraqi law." Observer.
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28. J. R. Carroll. "Life in the Green Zone: Iraq 's nerve center is
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29. J. Krane and L. Navarro. "Raucous bar scene emerges in Baghdad
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30. H. Hamoudi. "Jogging in the twilight zone." Asia Times. May 27,
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31. P. Cockburn. "The Pretence of an Independent Iraq. "
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32. P. Sperry. " U.S. miscalculations left troops vulnerable:
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33. AP. "Language lag still hampers government: U.S. needs more
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35. B. Whitaker. "'You didn't fire a warning shot soon enough!'"
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36. P. Slevin. "Wrong Turn at a Postwar Crossroads? Decision to
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37. R. Moran. " U.S. eases rules for ex-Baathists." Knight Ridder
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38. R. Sale. "CPA handlers suspected in espionage." UPI. May 25,
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39. O. Bowcott. "Secret Baath files may help Chalabi settle old
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40. M. Hirsh. "Crime and Politics." Newsweek. May 20, 2004 .
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44. G. Sealey. "Hersh: Children sodomized at Abu Ghraib, on tape."
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45. J. Coman. "US soldiers 'seen raping woman' in new jail photos."
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48. R, Miller. "'Disappearing' Iraqis: Why Are So Many Citizens
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51. W. Booth and R. Chandrasekaran. "Occupation Forces Halt
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54. D. Macintyre. "US wants permanent access to military bases in
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law." Financial Times. June 22, 2004 .
56. A. S. Klamper. "Former Iraq administrator sees decades-long U.S.
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57. A. Janabi. "Iraqi unemployment rate reaches 70%." Aljazeera.net.
July 21, 2004 .
58. D. Milbank and W. Pincus. " U.S. Administrator Imposes Flat Tax
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60. J. Wilding. "April 11th - Falluja." Wildfire. April 11, 2004 .
61. J. Cole. "Riot at Imam Ali Shrine; Clashes in Sadr City ."
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62. S. Wilson . "Over 60 Days, Troops Suppressed an Uprising."
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63. T. Shanker and E. Schmitt. "Army Used Speed and Might, Plus
Cash, Against ****ite Rebel." New York Times. June 26, 2004 .
64. "Public Opinion in Iraq: First Poll Following Abu Ghraib
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65. T. Lasseter. "UN's Brahimi: Bremer the 'Dictator of Iraq ' in
Shaping Iraqi Government." Knight-Ridder Newspapers. June 3, 2004 .
66. P. Cockburn. "US abruptly cedes power in attempt to spike guns
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67. L. P. Bremer. "Coalition Provisional Authority Order Number 17
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69. J. F. Burns, T. Shanker, and S. R. Weisman. "US Officials
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2004 .
70. BBC. "Who's who in Iraq : Iyad Allawi." BBC. May 28, 2004 .
71. J. Brinkley. "Ex-C.I.A. Aides Say Iraq Leader Helped Agency in
90's Attacks." New York Times. June 9, 2004 .
72. P. McGeough. "Allawi shot inmates in cold blood, say witnesses."
Sydney Morning Herald. July 17, 2004 .
Stephen Soldz (mailto:ssoldz@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
) is psychoanalyst and a faculty
member at the Institute for the Study of Violence of the Boston Graduate
School of Psychoanalysis. He is a member of Roslindale Neighbors for
Peace and Justice and founder of Psychoanalysts for Peace and Justice,
and maintains the Iraq Occupation and Resistance Re****t web page.
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